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Wave-breaking device wins the $50,000 Water Challenge at New Orleans Entrepreneur Week

Webster Pierce win Water Challenge at New Orleans Entrpreneur We

Webster Pierce wins the Water Challenge during the 5th annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week at Gallier Hall in New Orleans, Monday March 18, 2013. The nationally award-winning Water Challenge is a collaborative initiative of The Idea Village and the Greater New Orleans Foundation that aims to identify and support entrepreneurial solutions that apply innovative approaches to how we live with water. Pierce invented a device that captures sediment along the shoreline.(Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com |The Times-Picayune)

The business-pitch contest at the opening of New
Orleans Entrepreneur Week ended Monday with the $50,000 seed money prize going to
Webster Pierce of Cut Off, who devised a plastic step structure that breaks
waves and catches sediment to rebuild coastline. Pierce conceived his
invention, called the Wave Robber, as a more lasting version of the annual
program that reuses Christmas trees for the same function.

"What it means is I can spend money that's not out of my own
pocket to keep working on it," Pierce said after his victory.

He has personally financed his effort so far, including working
with university professors to test and tune the device, securing a patent and
building a prototype from a plastic mold. Advancing his invention to market,
where government agencies, major landowners and oil companies are the most
likely customers, will require continued testing, development and construction
of models, he said.

The Wave Robber, a device to rebuild the Louisiana coast invented by Cut Off resident Webster Pierce Jr. Its steps break waves before they can batter the shore. Pipes running through it pile sediment on the other side.Webster Pierce Jr.

Also competing were ABS Technologies, which provides
Internet-based tracking of oyster harvests, EMS Green, which makes erosion
control and sediment-capturing products designed to assist plant growth, and
Louisiana Water Works, which provides water management consulting for
communities grappling environmental issues and related regulations.